Nepo’s challenge to King Carlsen almost over

Dubai, December 7

Defending world chess champion Magnus Carlsen scored his third win in four games over title challenger Ian Nepomniachtchi to get an iron grip on chess’s principal global trophy.

Victory in Game 9 of the 14-game World Chess Championship contest gave Carlsen a 6-3 lead, and he now needs only 1.5 points from the five remaining games to retain his crown.

Playing with white pieces, Nepomniachtchi made a huge blunder on the 27th move, which led to his own bishop being trapped. And for the second successive game Carlsen capitalised on the Russian’s blunder.

“This is a terrible moment for Nepomniachtchi,” said GM Fabiano Caruana of the US after Nepo’s error. “It’s also such a preventable onehellip; Just another rushed moment. He’s trying to blitz Magnus and he ends up trapping his own bishop instead.”

Later, Carlsen was asked how could his challenger blunder so badly. “I think it’s the tension for sure,” he said. “And also that Ian is probably a bit more prone to blundering than some other opponents. But it happened to Vishy (Anand) as well (in the 2013 world title match). He also made some uncharacteristic errors at the end. Pressure gets to everybody.”

“You work a whole lifetime for one shot and this is what happens on the biggest scene. He’s probably never blundered like this in his whole career,” said three-time British champion David Howell. — TNS